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School board spending on retreats

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As readers of this blog will know, I have been gathering information about board spending on retreats and off-site meetings for the past month.

It was more complicated than I anticipated, and – for space reasons – the story I wrote for today’s paper does not include everything I learned. I sent three emails to superintendents seeking a response and a final one to board chairs in the districts that had not responded.

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Three districts did not respond at all: Southeast Kootenay, Kootenay Lake and Cowichan Valley. It is possible that superintendents Bill Gook, Pat Dooley and Daniel Boudreault did not receive my email, although I used the address posted on the B.C. Education Ministry website. Nor did I hear from the board chairs in those districts: Frank Lento, Bill Maslechko or Ann Anderson.

Superintendent Tom Longridge of Campbell River emailed back promptly to say he would respond to my questions but never did. SuperintendentPat Pearce of Gold Trail had an assistant call me and leave a message saying she would not be providing the requested information. (No reason given.)

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I thought my request was simple: Has your district held any offsite meetings or retreats for staff or trustees during calendar 2009 and, if so, what did it cost? When some superintendents said they were too busy to track down costs, I asked them to provide only the locations.

Superintendent Michael Munro in Nanaimo-Ladysmith district provided the most detai,l and I thank him for that. He gave me a chart listing 10 off-site events and their cost, along with an explanation about why the locations were chosen. Two were in the $1,000 range (rental plus refreshments) – one was a staff planning day in June at the Bethlehem Retreat Centre and the other was a staff planning day in September at Tamagawa University.

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The Lower Mainland districts were generally prompt with their responses, although I had difficulty in a couple of cases in getting answers about whether professional development funds were used for transportation to and accommodations at resorts.

About one third of the districts that responded said they hold all meetings on-site. Some districts said they couldn’t do that because they don’t have space. A couple spoke in support of off-site meetings, including superintendent Larry Espe of Peace River North. “I wish we could afford to do more retreats (actually we call them ‘advances,’” he said in an email. “They provide invaluable time for reflection and team building. Too bad that they have a tendency to be painted with a black brush by so many people who have never taken part in one.“

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Superintendent Keven Elderof Saanich district said his board and senior management used to hold twice-a-year day-long planning meetings in local hotels and conference venues but those meetings are now held in the board room. The district instructional leadership team was the only group to hold off-site meetings — in the private home of one of the participants.

In its last throne speech, the government said it plans to review school district spending. I inquired last week about that review and was told by the Education Ministry spokesman that it will be conducted by the Finance Ministry. “The throne speech said health authorities, boards of education and Crown corporations would be subject to review,” he said. “Broadly speaking the government plans to review these entities to maximize public effectiveness and to lower thevancouversunistrative and overhead costs to benefit ratepayers and taxpayers alike.

“The focus of this review will be on ensuring all Crown entities are meeting their service objectives while operating as efficiently as possible. The review has not started and so far there is no estimate on how long it will take.”

I plan to post more this week about the difficulties for outsiders in getting details about school district spending.

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